Transforming Seawater Into Drinkable Water Instantly

This new development has the potential to be highly effective at straining salt which could prove to be of great use to provide clean drinking water to millions of people who do not have access to it. The graphene sieve is about to be tested against desalination membranes.

Data from previous testing shows that when immersed in water the sieve becomes slightly enlarged allowing smaller salt particles to break in through the pores. Current research has shown that by attaching walls to the sieve made of epoxy resin on each side effectively stopped the sieve from expanding which also allowed the researchers to adjust its properties.

Common salts when dissolved always form a shell of water molecules around salt molecules, this enables the membrane’s capillaries to inhibit salt from flowing through as explained by the researchers. Any salts will have difficulty passing through as they need water molecules, size of water molecule shells formed by salts are bigger than the channel size which is why they can’t pass, while water molecules can flow through the membrane’s capillaries with ease due to their size, says Dr. Nair.

This study was the first to demonstrate developing membranes with uniform pore size could provide opportunities to improve the efficiency of desalination processes, according to the researchers. However more work is need to be able to mass produce the inexpensive graphene oxide membranes. The team’s goal is to produce a filtration device that can produce potable water from wastewater or seawater with minimal energy input.